Crosses are crosses. They can be pretty when they are made of
diamonds or even cut glass. We like to
wear them on our bodies, decorate our walls with them and consider the great
price Jesus paid for our salvation with the cross.
Jesus told us crosses are to be
taken up, not just admired or made into beautiful pieces of art. In Luke 9:23 He specifies what we are to do
with crosses: Then he said to them all: Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny
themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.
Crosses are for taking up.
You don’t get to choose the
cross that Jesus asks you to take up.
There are no malls for shopping for a favorite or best-fitting
cross. The cross is different for each
of us. It can be depression, difficult
marriage, infertility, cancer, rebellious children, and financial ruin—the list
is endless. Though the crosses vary, the instructions for any who wish to follow
Christ and be His disciple are the same—we are told to take up the cross God
presents to us.
Taking up our cross is actually
acceptance. We do not take up the cross
until we move beyond our hatred of the cross, rejection, opposing, blaming,
avoiding, and pitying ourselves. Until
we take up our cross through acceptance, we will not find the peace that passes
understanding.
Jesus doesn’t tell us to love
our cross or repress the fact that it is painful and hard to carry. He knows taking up our cross is unnatural and
requires supernatural spiritual strength to accomplish. In fact before you are even able to take up
your cross, it is mandatory that you deny yourself.
You must deny your natural
instincts to defend, protect and rely on what you can see. Crosses are scary, uncharted, and
dangerous. They cause you to defend yourself
in a supernatural way. You defend
yourself by acceptance, believing that you are not alone, and hope that God can
redeem the world through the cross you bear.
It’s actually a three step
process.
1. Deny self
2. Take up your
cross
3. Follow Jesus
The
path to taking up your cross begins with denying yourself—you have to do that
because crosses come in God-sized problems and are impossible to take up
without surrendering your faith to Christ.
Sometimes a cross seems forced upon you, but you have a choice to take
it up through acceptance or to fight it off though self-reliance. I don’t recommend the latter because when you
take up your cross through acceptance, you experience the joy of being united
with Christ by following His actions. He
didn’t find His cross bearable without acceptance of God’s goodness through the
horror and humiliation of the cross.
Aren’t you glad He took up His cross?
I wonder what God’s purposes are through the cross He is asking you to
take up.
Copyright © 2014.
Deborah R. Newman teatimeforyousoul.com
All Rights Reserved.
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